The historic goal went into the Lightning’s empty net unassisted at 17:26 of the third period, making Shesterkin the 18th different goalie to score a goal in an NHL game. It’s the 21st goalie goal in NHL history, 19th in the regular season.
Like every goal-scorer typically does, Shesterkin led the line down the Rangers bench, getting handshakes and fist-bumps along the way.
“It’s pretty nice,” he said. “I never did it before so it’s a lot of fun.”
So much fun that Shesterkin was cracking some jokes related to the goal after the game.
Asked if this was now his career highlight, Shesterkin said, “I don’t know, I like to watch my fight.”
He fought Jacob Markstrom, then with the New Jersey Devils, in a game at the Garden on March 31.
But scoring was better than fighting.
“Yeah, at least nobody is punching my face,” Shesterkin said.
He also was asked to compare his goal to the one his good friend, New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin, was credited with last season. Sorokin was the last Islanders player to touch the puck before the Nashville Predators shot it into their own net.
Shesterkin joked then that Sorokin’s goal really shouldn’t count because he didn’t put it in the net.
“This one counts,” he said of his goal.
This one was a long time coming for Shesterkin, who has never been shy about his desire to score a goal, and will usually try to do it whenever the opportunity presents itself.
“I feel like probably a dozen times I’ve been on the bench thinking, ‘OK, this one goes in,’ and he barely misses,” Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said.
Not this time.
The puck came out of the corner and right to Shesterkin, who wasted no time firing it down the ice.
Mike Sullivan said he thought the puck had a chance to go in “probably when it was at the peak.” The Rangers’ coach did not sound at all surprised that it did end up in the back of the net off of Shesterkin’s stick.
“Obviously, one of his strengths is his ability to handle the puck,” Sullivan said.